Longboards are just another way that skaters roll

Eight-year-old Josiah Watson of West Seattle swings low on his longboard at Alki Beach.

Eight-year-old Josiah Watson of West Seattle swings low on his longboard at Alki Beach.

Photo: MERYL SCHENKER/P-I

Photo: MERYL SCHENKER/P-I

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Eight-year-old Josiah Watson of West Seattle swings low on his longboard at Alki Beach.

Eight-year-old Josiah Watson of West Seattle swings low on his longboard at Alki Beach.

Photo: MERYL SCHENKER/P-I

Longboards are just another way that skaters roll

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Typically, you're not going to see a longboarder go whistling past your ear like you might a regular skateboarder. But you might see one screaming down a steep hill, carving soulfully on a slanted parking lot, or kickin' and glidin' the Burke-Gilman while cruising to class or work.

Longboards, the ones with wheels, are the latest evolution of the skateboard and, no, they ain't all the latest rage. They're just another way to ride, another arrow in a boarder's quiver. Longboarding is a scene that's definitely growing, but nobody will tell you it's the fastest-growing sport in the hemisphere.

Short boards are for skateboard parks and halfpipes, for spinning and flipping and ollies and other tricks. Longboards are bigger, wider, heavier rides for bombing hills and carving turns, and a lot of people use them simply for cheap transportation. If it takes you 20 minutes to walk a flat mile, you can do it in seven on a longboard.

"They're just a different style, more of a surf style," says Greg Whittaker, who rents out longboards at his Alki Kayak Tours shop in West Seattle. "I grew up skateboarding and I started using a longboard to get down here quicker. You can travel on these things."

You see longboards mostly on Seattle's paved paths, such as the Burke-Gilman Trail, at Green Lake and especially the two-mile-plus path along Harbor and Alki avenues.

"This is the hot spot," said Bill Fetner of Graham, whom we ran into -- not literally -- while longboarding at Alki. "I'm out here quite a bit and this is the best place in the country. I'm telling you, because I get around, I ride all over the country."

Alki is a hot spot because the path is long and wide, with walkers and wheelers separated for most of its length, because of the classic views toward downtown and out to the Olympics, and because you can catch a breeze -- seriously. When a stout wind blows in off Puget Sound, longriders can get pushed along. You can sail even faster by opening your jacket and spreading your arms.

"You've got to fight the wind one way, but on the way back, oh boy!" said Fetner, an animated individual who makes his own longboards.

The evolution of longboards and their increasing popularity is pretty much the same wave that washed over surfing some years ago. Traditionally, surfboards were long and heavy, made of wood, and over the years they morphed into shorter, lighter boards of synthetic materials that allowed sharper cuts and even spins and tricks. An interest in tradition sparked a revival of long surfboards, and it didn't hurt that they are easier to get up on for beginners.

Skateboards have taken a similar trajectory. Back in the late 1950s and '60s, surf-oriented kids started nailing roller skate wheels to two-by-fours, and the way they rode them reflected surfing techniques. A hill represented the wave and fluid surferlike turns controlled the speed -- and felt really cool.

The introduction in the '70s of the urethane wheel changed all that. They were faster and provided better purchase on a hard surface. Along with "kicktail" deck shapes and skateboard-specific trucks (the T-shaped metal parts that attach the wheels to the decks), a rider could do crazy tricks.

The longboard represents skateboarding coming full circle, only the boards are longer, the trucks and wheels better, and everything a rider could do back in the day can be done easier, faster and better.

They're easier to ride, at least on the flats, and you can spin these wheels without putting your body parts in danger like you do on a little board in the park or on the pipe.

"Part of it for me, as a beginner and 40-year-old, is that it's easier, and it's also the kind of riding I like to do," said Liga Mezaraups, another longboarder we met at Alki, riding with her 10-year-old daughter, Liana Seglins. "We moved up here from Redondo Beach and some of my surfing friends down there were telling me about how to learn to surf. They said, 'Jump on a longboard.' It was so fun and easier to learn."

Fetner, a good carver who both cruises and bomb hills, claims longboarding is gaining popularity as skateboarders age.

"This is the deal: The older generation, the older pipers, we're kind of busted up," he said, pointing to scars on his legs. "We can't do tricks and things that are dangerous anymore. So now everybody is migrating to the longboards.

"So right now it's a boom fixin' to occur. I've been coming down here for five years and every year there's more and more."

Except that kids are riding longboards, too, often as part of their transportation mix. It's common now to see them holding longboards at bus stops or while waiting for the light to change at crosswalks. And a good rider can do tricks on a longboard. A good rider can almost lay his or her ear on the concrete while carving. A good rider can bomb a hill at speeds of more than 40 mph -- don't e-mail, I'm not advising anybody to do that in the city.

Hill-bombing can indeed be something of an urban guerrilla activity, but there are sanctioned competitions specifically for speed boarders. In Washington, most of them are at Goldendale in south-central Washington on the old Maryhill Loops Road, a snaking downhill that is closed to motorized vehicles. The North America Speedboard Championships were there in June; however, another race scheduled for last weekend was canceled because of complications with the promoter.

Longboards come in a dizzying variety, ranging from about 35 to 60 or more inches. Most riders choose a midlength model, about 39 to 50 inches, with a flexible deck for comfortable riding and loosely adjusted trucks to allow narrow turns. On the flats, the basic technique is to kick with your back foot and then glide.

I took a longboard out for a spin on the Alki path recently, and it's amazing how far you can glide on one with a good hard kick. You also can cover some territory quickly and work up a sweat; it's definitely an aerobic activity. Although longboards have been around for at least eight years, they're still new and novel enough that people will look at you curiously.

"It's totally fun," said Mezaraups. "Hearing the wheels going over the cracks in the sidewalk is such a neat sound. You can bail at any point. If it's steep, you can just jump off and carry it."

I also saw some innovative approaches to longboarding. One guy was being pulled by his dog, using a chest harness on the critter, which seemed to be enjoying it. Fetner said earlier that morning he saw a girl on a longboard being pulled by a bicyclist.

For a complete novice, it's going to take a little time to gain your longboard legs and ride with confidence. It's mostly a balance issue. But if you have some experience on other boards, you'll pick it up fast and be carving in an hour or two.

"If you're comfortable gliding on other surfaces, it's not very difficult on the flats," Whittaker said. "When you start going downhill, it gets challenging."

Downhill speed is controlled by turning, as in snowboarding or skiing.